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New grave marker for Minn. soldier who died at Antietam

A Civil War private's overgrown headstone discovered last year is being replaced on Saturday.

Local officials and religious leaders are attending a dedication of the new grave marker at Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul.

Linda Radtke, a cemetery official, says Pvt. Edmund Sampare was the only Civil War soldier killed at the Battle of Antietam whose body was returned to Minnesota. She says Civil War re-enacters will fire a rifle volley as Sampare's new headstone is unveiled.

"It's a white marble; it's an upright marker," Radtke said. "Pvt. Sampare was a member of the U.S. Sharpshooters, so there's the Sharpshooters emblem on it, and then it has his name, rank, date of birth, date of death, and I believe it says 'died at the Battle of Antietam.'"

The ceremony coincides with the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Radtke says most of the men who died at Antietam were buried on the battleground.

"In the 1860s, there was no way of really preserving the body," she said. "And so it was an expensive process to bring someone home. And for whatever reason, his family sent a friend out to Antietam, and they brought his body back here for burial."